A Lexus ES 350 "cold weather package" lawsuit has been filed by a New Jersey woman who claims her 2015 ES 350 was falsely advertised as equipped with a heated steering wheel.
Plaintiff Ellen Wertheim says not only was a heated steering wheel not included in her car, but no 2015 Lexus ES 350 in the country has a heated steering wheel.
The plaintiff says it was a surprise to her because she previously leased an earlier model Lexus with a cold weather package and it included a heated steering wheel.
The plaintiff says she paid an extra $190 for the package based on a promotional brochure that used the heating steering wheel as a selling point for the $50,000 car. In addition, Wertheim says she saw the identical information about the heated steering wheels on a Lexus website along with other car-related websites.
The brochure lists the following options that are included in the cold weather package for the 2015 Lexus ES 350:
- Heated steering wheel
- High-intensity interior heater
- Headlamp washers
- Windshield wiper deicer
- Water-repellent front door glass
- LED headlamps
Wertheim says if she would have known the steering wheel wasn't heated, she would have held onto the additional $190 paid for the cold weather package. The plaintiff claims Toyota knew the heated steering wheel wasn't included in the package although advertisements said it was.
Wertheim said she filed the proposed class-action lawsuit for damages related to violation of applicable New Jersey consumer protection statutes.
The Lexus ES 350 heated steering wheel lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey - Ellen S. Wertheim v. Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc.
The plaintiff is represented by Cohn Lifland Pearlman Herrmann & Knopf LLP.